GIVEN HOW IMPORTANT OUR EYES ARE, we don’t exactly treat them with reverence. We rub them, stick little pieces of plastic on our corneas to avoid glasses, and use mascara that we may or may not have had since the Obama Administration. “Eyes are a mucous membrane, and they’re constantly bombarded with things from the environment—irritants, allergens, and dirty fingers,” says ophthalmologist Daniel C. Brocks, M.D., medical director at Boston Sight.
This, of course, can lead to many problems—specifically, infections of the eye. Fortunately, most are very treatable, says Melissa Barnett, O.D., director of optometry at the University of California, Davis, but it’s important to get symptoms such as redness, itching, burning, pain, tearing, and discharge checked and treated promptly so an infection won’t get worse and potentially threaten your vision.…